Hoarding - Springing Ahead

Byatt

Just popping in to say hi, and I spot BH, lovely to "see" you.

It's about this time last year that I was into major dehoarding and coming to terms with a lot of things that have gone on in my life; I'm still very much a work in progress, don't think that will ever change. I reached 60 this year and the promised knowledge and acceptance hasn't quite materialised.

I will never be free of my hoarding tendencies, but have reached a plateau of not wanting to have "things"...after buying very cheaply or getting items for free this past year, the desire to have stuff and the instant gratification it gave me, has gone. Phew. I can look at things and like them, but my instant thought is, where will I put it, and then...more tellingly, how will I feel when I get it home. Which has been an eye opener...I visualise myself putting the "thing" into the pile of other stuff that lurks, partly because I have nowhere to put it, and partly because once it's home, it loses its value to me, which is because instant gratification is only fleeting, and I prefer knowing I have kept my money and kept my house hoard free.

I'm not tidy by any means, but now can get the place ship shape in abotu 15 mins. All rooms are done now and I have had friends visiting and staying, it's been lovely.

I hope Jo-jo is well, not seen her here for some time.

Hugs and good wishes to you all. :A

whitewing

Yesterday we chucked out old socks and put new (discounted) socks in the drawer instead.

Today I am drowning in business paperwork. I have about 4 months' worth to sort. I usually do it monthly but have been busy with other stuff. I am happy though as I can see improvements in the daily running of the house compared to how it was when Jojo set this thread up. Even our minds and habits are less cluttered.

sweetpea26

A bit overwhelmed with my house at the moment. Bedroom a mess kitchen dining room not far behind. I need to store away garden furniture and all outside items too. Need to make a start on some of it today. Will be back later:)

kayester

bathroom thoroughly cleaned and floors all mopped in bathroom and kitchen i feel happy i have done something and a lot of things been put in right places. tomorrow is sort through kitchen drawers though might take me a while

greenbee

sweetpea26 wrote: »

A bit overwhelmed with my house at the moment. Bedroom a mess kitchen dining room not far behind. I need to store away garden furniture and all outside items too. Need to make a start on some of it today. Will be back later:)

You're not the only one. My heating/hot water system is being replaced at the moment, so no room is left untouched. Everything is chaotic and dusty, and it's really depressing. Can't get all the outside stuff into the garage as it's full of crap that the plumbers seem incapable of taking away...

lobbyludd

understand the overwhelmed feeling. chip away at something, it does get better.

there was/is a thread on here about picking something and seeing it through to the end. I ummed and ahhed about whether that was one of my problems - I do tend to flit. But as I was supervising dd5's bath I did 5 mins of clearing out the airing cupboard and realised that I've nearly completely done it now, and actually I rarely have time to devote enough time to any one thing to get it done completely. So my doing 5 mins here and there and a bit of this and a bit of that in between the routine day to day responsibilities has made progress.

today I have thrown a skirt that ripped on a door (I WON'T mend it, no matter what I think), I've taken the wooden blinds down from my bedroom (ex hated soft furnishings, but did agree to blinds eventually) and put lined under curtains up - not nearly so dust-catching, and more heat-keeping-in. The blinds are ready for the recycling centere. note to self: they will not be useful, they will not be useful!!

and I think a dressing table can go, it needs restoring/rebuilding, I'm not going to do it, I like the mirror, but although an antique, it wasn't originally well built so I may keep the mirror to go on the wall and release the space. The only things in it are christmas presents - and since emptying the bottom of the airing cupboard I can probably store those there for the next 8 weeks.

Also, I've a stair basket that has been in my room for 6 months, it contains children's toys that I rounded up to go back in their rooms - they've not emptied it in that time so the contents can go.

sweetpea26

lobbyludd you done well there

I did bits and pieces in between ebaying. This morning I woke to see I was overdrawn in my bank account which I check every day. A cheque had been cashed for £264 and I couldn't find the cheque book so I took everything out of every drawer and it is now on my dining table. Found the cheque book and I had forgotten to transfer money I had paid to the plumber.

So money transferred and a table full paper etc which I will tackle today.

Got some washing and drying done yesterday. So a bit of progress, every little bit adds up.

kayester

day three now of starting my rota.
bathroom was cleaned yesterday and my new mop got put into use in 3 rooms.

today i have thouroughly cleaned the kitchen, cleaned all outside of cupboards and inside of 2 cupboards....full of junk, have got 2 big bin liners for the bin, a lot more to do but its a start.
I have made them into my 'cleaning' cupboards and all cleaning products now nicely arranged

roundtuit

I'm feeling overwhelmed too,,,with the house, finances, job security (or insecurity!). I keep having bad dreams so I wake up anxious and that sets the tone of the day - I think that's my subconscious telling me I'm stressed...as if I didn't know already! I keep reading quotes which say to stop drifting and start sailing - but how do you know in which direction to sail????

However, on a more positive note. I've taken a day's Annual Leave and after breakfast I wrote a list: partly what I need to do today, partly things that I keep forgetting to do. This appears to have freed up some neurons and allowed me to function :T

A little progress has been made - mainly on the rubbish and recycling front. I've also waded through some paper : keep/ bin/ shred/ recycle.

I love reading about all your trials and successes. Rxx

GreyQueen

Afternoon all.

(((roundtuit))) sorry to hear about the stress; been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Congratulations on starting to get a grip of the household via the List. I'm a big fan of lists. There comes those moments in all of our lives when it seems an insurmountable muddle and the temptation is to go into a flat spin and wibble.

At such times, I find sitting down with a cup of tea and pen and paper a great comfort.

My place is pit atm due to stuff everywhere. I've been right poorly with a stinker of a cold and haven't done much beyond the essentials of working, eating and sleeping. Still feeling a bit rubbish but will have a tidy-up after tea so that at least I can rest peacefully and move from one side of the room to another without sidling around the ironing board and the clothes airer.

I need to iron a couple of things but as the ironing board cover as part of the washload which is on the airer, because I stupidly put a carton containing a pastry on the ironing board and the carton was sticky. The carton went on the ironing board because the table was full and the board was up (from the previous day).........

We muddlers can get ourselves into some scrapes, can't we?

Keep on keeping on, lovely peeps.